Dishwashers, washing machines and other similar appliances are normally equipped with a drain port through which waste water may be removed. For such an installation a drain conduit, or hose, is generally employed to convey the waste water to a sanitary waste system. Two heretofore known connecting arrangements epitomize the prior art configurations employed to secure drain conduits to appliances. In the first type of prior art arrangement the drain conduit is provided with an integral connector that is configured specifically for effecting a mating connection with a complementarily configured stub conduit which constitutes the drain port of the appliance. In the second type of prior art arrangement, the drain conduit may have a uniform configuration throughout its length, in order that any desired length thereof may simply be severed from a supply source.
One form for an integral connector employed with the first type connecting arrangement incorporates a soft rubber sealing means molded inside that end of the drain conduit which is to be attached to the stub conduit of the drain port. A typical sealing means comprises a plurality of generally semicircular ribs that are molded onto the interior surface of the drain conduit in proximity to that end thereof which is to be secured to the stub conduit of the drain port provided on the appliance. The consecutive ribs are longitudinally spaced and are each disposed approximately 180.degree. relative to the immediately adjacent ribs. The stub conduit is inserted into the drain conduit, and a hose clamp is tightened over the drain conduit to secure it onto the stub conduit of the drain port and thereby effect the requisite seal. With this type arrangement--i.e., the type arrangement wherein the drain conduits are provided with an integral connector--the conduits must be provided in lengths that may prove to be excessively long for the vast majority of installations. Nevertheless, the excessive length is necessary in order to accommodate installations in virtually any environment that may be encountered in the field. However, once the required length of such a conduit is determined, the length removed is rendered unusable inasmuch as it no longer presents the requisite, integral connector. To ameliorate the waste of material which naturally occurs as a result of severing the excessive length of conduit from drain conduits incorporating integral connectors, drain conduits having integral connectors are generally produced in several standard lengths which comport to the lengths most frequently encountered. While some conservation is thus achieved, this approach requires that the installer stock drain conduits in a wide variety of lengths, and even then there will be some waste and no assurance that the longest standard length will accommodate all environments encountered.
When the drain conduit is provided with a uniform cross section throughout its length--i.e., without an integral connector--the precise length desired can be cut from a supply source, but the heretofore employed arrangements by which to secure the drain conduit to the drain port of the appliance have not proven to be wholly satisfactory. In one such arrangement the stub conduit of the drain port is attached to the appliance by inserting the stub conduit into a rubber grommet, or other washer, fitted within the end of the drain conduit. Such an installation requires that close dimensional tolerances be maintained for the stub conduit, the grommet and the drain conduit. Maintaining dimensional tolerances for three separate components itself tends to preclude reliably leak-proof installations. In addition, it should be appreciated that even if the dimensional tolerances can be maintained, over time the requisite tight fit between the grommet, the drain conduit and the stub conduit will begin to loosen, and when that occurs the integrity of the seal is lost and water leakage is the likely result.
Inasmuch as the drain conduit must necessarily be flexible and sturdy, conventional drain conduits are generally formed of convoluted, polymeric material. The convolutions not only contribute to the flexibility of the drain conduit, they also assist the passage of waste water therethrough by creating a swirling action.
The use of a drain conduit having a uniform cross section is the only prior known arrangement by which to accomodate the desired capability of being able to determine, and select, the most propitious length for the drain conduit, on site. When a drain conduit having a uniform cross section is employed such adaptability is achieved. However, experience reveals that the prior known arrangement do not provide the desired, long lasting, waterproof integrity to the connection.